
Coco Gauff lost in women’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday, ending her first Summer Games a day after her tearful exit in singles.
“At the end of the day, it’s over,” the 20-year-old American said. “I’ll try to take the positive out of it and do better next time.”
Gauff and her U.S. teammate, Jessica Pegula, were the top-seeded women’s pair but were eliminated in the second round by the Czech duo of Karolina Muchova and Linda Noskova 2-6, 6-4, 10-5 in a match tiebreaker in the afternoon. Then, at night, Gauff and Taylor Fritz exited mixed doubles with a 7-6 (2), 3-6, 10-8 loss in another match tiebreaker to Gabby Dabrowski and Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada.
In Olympic tennis, first-to-10, win-by-two match tiebreakers are used in place of a traditional third set for all doubles matches.
NADAL OUT, DONE >> When it was over, when Rafael Nadal’s Paris Games — and his Olympic career — ended with a doubles loss in a stadium central to his legacy because it hosts the French Open, which he’s won a record 14 times, he soaked in the applause accompanying his exit from the red clay.
Was this 6-2, 6-4 loss alongside Carlos Alcaraz to the fourth-seeded American duo of Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram actually Nadal’s last match at Roland Garros?
“Maybe,” he said later in the evening. “I don’t know.”
Was it his last match anywhere? No way for anyone to be sure if he himself isn’t.
After collecting his equipment from the sideline, the 38-year-old Spaniard looked around the place that has meant so much to him and waved to the spectators, who were bidding adieu with the latest in a series of standing ovations for him during these Olympics.
“If that’s the last time (here) for me, it’s an unforgettable feeling and emotions. They give me the love and support every single second that I have been on court,” Nadal said about the spectators, who clapped and yelled and sang for him throughout the quarterfinal match.
“It’s super, super special to feel that, particularly in this place. So I can’t really thank all of them enough for giving me the feelings I have inside myself and the emotions they make me feel,” he continued. “I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future, but if that’s the last time, I enjoyed it.”
Swiatek wins as Collins retires >> Iga Swiatek dropped to her knees and clutched at her midsection after getting hit by a ball in the Paris Olympics quarterfinals Wednesday, but it was her opponent, Danielle Collins, who stopped playing in the third set because of an injured stomach muscle she said was caused by cramping and dehydration from a lack of cold water available during a previous match.
Swiatek, a five-time Grand Slam champion who is the top-seeded woman at the Summer Games, was leading 6-2, 1-6, 4-1 when Collins retired from the match after taking a medical timeout, then getting another visit from a trainer in the third set.


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